This invention relates to interactive media guidance systems and methods and more particularly to interactive media guidance systems and methods that provide a portal for accessing on-demand media from one or more media vendors and/or service providers. The invention also relates to an interactive media guidance application that automatically records or otherwise makes accessible to a user on-demand programs that the user does not watch.
Media guidance applications may provide users with access to media content offered by their primary service provider. The media content may be offered directly by the service provider, or by media vendors or other content providers that the user may access through the service provider. The media content offered by the service provider and media vendors is generally presented to users in service-provider specific and vendor-specific media guidance applications. The content from each provider or vendor is also generally presented in a different media guidance environment. In order to access media content, a user may be required to access the media guidance application of the particular provider or vendor offering the media, and to utilize this media guidance application to order or access the media content. This media guidance application may be considered a “portal” to the media content of the particular provider or vendor. The description that follows may apply equally to vendors and providers, where appropriate, but for brevity will be described as it relates to vendors.
The use of independently provided vendor-specific media guidance applications may allow vendors to compete with each other on a brand-based level, rather than solely having to market and compete based on individual media offerings to customers. In competing on a brand-based level, vendors may work to develop and maintain a favorable brand image through advertising and other means in order to attract and retain a loyal customer base. Vendors may therefore focus advertising and other marketing efforts on developing a lasting brand image, thereby lessening the need for and cost of advertising individual media offerings to customers. The media vendors may rely on their advertising and brand-image to attract customers/users to their media guidance application. Once a user accesses the vendor's media guidance application, the vendor may present any number of media offerings to the user, including less popular media offerings.
The use of independent vendor-specific media guidance applications may additionally allow vendors to customize the media guidance environment they provide. The media guidance application may allow vendors to choose, for example, to feature particular media offerings within their guidance application, suggest particular programs for viewing to users, advertise programs or products to users, and/or provide users with assistance in locating programs suited to the users' tastes and interests.
However, the use of vendor-specific media guidance applications may not be convenient for users. The use of vendor-specific media guidance applications may require users to access multiple media guidance applications in order to determine the range of media offerings available to them, locate a particular media offering, and view different vendors' suggestions or featured media offerings. In addition, the user may have to adapt to different media guidance environments where each vendor may have different menus, media organization and listing schemes, and navigation procedures for exploring the vendor's media listings. The use of vendor-specific media guidance applications may therefore complicate a user's search for programming of interest and cause a user to miss available and desired programming.
For example, if a user wants to compare two different vendors' program listings, the user is required to access the first vendor's media guidance application to view that vendor's offerings, before accessing the second vendor's application. In addition to having to access and navigate through the two separate media guidance applications, the user may be required to remember the programs offered by the different vendors. If the user is looking for suggestions of programs to watch, for example, the user may have to access the first vendor's program listings, make note of the programs of interest in the program listing, then access the second vendor's program listings, make note of the programs of interest, and mentally compare the two resulting programs lists to select a desired program. The user must then access the media guidance application of the vendor offering the desired program in order to request the program for viewing.
If the user is looking for a particular program (or other media content), the user may have to access a number of different vendors' portals before locating the program of interest. Within each portal, the user may have to navigate through multiple menu screens before determining whether that vendor offers the program for viewing. A user may fail to locate a desired program if he fails to access a particular vendor's portal because, for example, he is unfamiliar with the vendor, or he forgets to access the vendor's portal. The user may also fail to locate a desired program if he fails to navigate to the menu screen containing the program of interest within the appropriate vendor's portal.
In addition, service providers' media guidance applications generally only provide access for their users to programming offered by the service provider and its associated vendors. However, users may benefit from having access to media content and programming from a greater selection of service providers and media vendors. Different service providers may provide access for their users to different media content, different media vendors, and different media content within common vendors' media offerings. Users may therefore gain access to a wider selection of media content by being provided with access to the media offered by multiple service providers.
Users may therefore benefit from systems and methods that allow the users to view program listings and access media content provided by any combination of service providers, media vendors, and other content providers to which the users may have access. In addition, users may benefit from systems and methods that allow the users to view program listings and access the media content provided by any combination of service providers, media vendors, and other content providers to which the users may have access from a single or consolidated media guidance application.